Sharp County record., 1887-08-04
TALMAGES SERMON.
A Discourse on the Pulpit Minis
tration Of the Future.
What the Preaching, Teaching and EK-
hortation Must Be in Order TO
Reach All the People-Pont ana
Brevity to be Commended.

Rev 7. Dewitt Talmage, IN recent
sermon at THE HamptOus,' took Tor ms
subject: PREACHING, Teaching and Ex-
bortation." illustrating it from the toI'
lowing text:
Or ministry. let US wait on our ministering'
or he that teacheth on teaching; OF he tnat eH-
hortheth. on observation-disclosures XII g D
Before the world is converted the style
Of religious discourse will have to be con-
verted. You might as we'll 60 into the
modern Sedan or Gettysburg with BOWS
and arrows instea1 Of rifles and bomb
shells and parks of artillery, as to expect
TO conquer this world for God by the old
STYLES of exhortatiOn and sermouology
Jonathan Edw rls preached the sermons
most adapted to the age in when ne
lived. but if those sermons were preached
now they would divide the audience into
q asses. those sound asleep and those
wanting to go home.
But there is a religious discourse Of the
future-WhO will preach 1t l have no ldeai
In what part of the earth it will be born
have no idea; in which denominations
Of Christians it will be delivered l can
not guess. That discourse or eXhoriaiion
NAV be born in the country meeting
house on the banks Of the st. Lawrence,
or the Oregon, or the Ohio, or the Tom
bigbee. or the Alabama. The person who
shall deliver it may at this moment be IN
cradle under the shadow Of the
Sierra Nevadas, or in New
England farm house, or amid
the rice-felis of Southern Savan-
mas. Or this moment there may be some
young man in some Of our theological
seminaries, in the junior or middle or
senior class. shaping that weapon or
power Or there may be coming some
new baptism Of the Holy Ghost on the
churches, so that some of rs who now
stand in the watchtowers of Zion, Wakin g
10 a realization of our present inehiciency
NAV preach it ourselves. That coming
discourse or exhortatiou may not be fifty
years off. And let Us pray God that its
arrival may be hastened, while announce
to you what think will be the chief
characteristics Of that discourse or eX-
hOrtatiOu when 1t does arrive, and l want
to make the remarks Of the morning ap-
propriate and suggestive to all classes Of
Christian workers.
First Of all, remark that the future re-
IigiOus discourse will be full Of living
Christ in c0ntradis stiuctiOn to didactlc
technicalities. A discourse may be full
Of Christ though hardly mentioning his
name, ana a sermon NAV be empty Of
fu
of his titles The world wants a living
Christ, not Christ standing at the head Of
a formal system of theology, but Christ
who means pardon and sympathy and
coincidence, and brotherhood and life and
heaven. A poor mans Christ. A rich
mans Christ. An overwOrked mans
Christ An invalid's Christ. An artisans
Christ. An every mans Christ
I A svmmetrcal and fine worked system
of theology is we'll enough tor theological
classes. but it has o more business in a
pulpit than nave the technical phrases Of
an anatOmist or psychologist or ply
sician in the sick-room of patient. The
world wants help, immediate and world
uplifting, and j will. come through dis
course in winch Christ shall walk right
down into the immortal soul and take
everlasting possession Of it, filing it as
full of light as is this monday armament
That sermon orexhOrtation of the future
will not deal with men in the threadbare
illustrations Of Jesus Christ III that
coming address there will be instances of
vicarious suffering taken right out Of
everyday life, for there is not a day some
body is not dying for others. As the
physician saving his diphtheritic patient
by sacrificing his own life; as the snip
captain going down with his vessel while
he Is getting his passengers into the life
boat; as the fireman consuming in the
burning building while he is taking a
child out Of a forth-s story window; as in
summer the strong swimmer Of East
Hampton, or Long Branch, or Cane Nav,
or Lake George, himself perished trying
to rescue the drowning; as Las news
paper boy one summer, supporting his
mother for some years, his invalid mother,
when offered BY a gentleman fifty cents
to get some especial paper, and he got it,
and rushed up in his anxiety TO deliver 1t,
and was crushed under the wheels Of the
train, and lay on the grass with only
strength enough to say:
''Oh, what will become of my poor sick
mother nowp'
Vicarious suffering The world is full
Of it. An engineer said TO me on loco
motive in Dakota:
s'We men seem to be coming to better
appreciation than we used to. Did you
see that account he other day Of an en-
gineer who, to save his passengers, stuck
to his place, and when he was found dead
10 the locomotive, which was upside down,
he was found still smiling, his hand on
the air. brake"
And as the engineer said it to me, he
put his hand on the air-brake 10 illustrate
his meaning, and l looked at him and
thought:
"You would be just as much Of hero
in the same crisis"
Oh, in that religious discourse Of the
future there will be living illustrations
taken out from everyday life of vicarious
uffering-illustrat o1s that will bring to
mind the ghastlier sacrifice of Him who,
in the high places Of the field, on the
cross fought our battles, and wept our
grief, and endured our struggle, and died
our death.
A German sculptor made an image Of
Christ, and he asked his little child, two
years old, who it was, and she said:
THAT must be some very great man.
The sculptor was displeased with the
criticism, so he got another block Of
marble, and chiseled away on it two or
three years, and then he brought in his
little child. four or five years of age. and